Egyptian paper al Aheam claims Cairo, Jerusalem to sign deal on
Saturday that will see Israeli citizen Ouda Tarabin freed in exchange
for 63 Egyptian prisoners held in Israel

Egyptian newspaper al Ahram quoted security officials as saying that
a prisoner swap deal, which will see Israeli citizen Ouda Tarabin
freed in exchange for over 63 Egyptian prisoners held in Israel, will
be signed on Saturday.

Tarabin, a resident of Rahat, was arrested in Egypt in 2000 on
suspicion of spying for Israel. He was sentenced to 15 years in
prison after being convicted of collecting intelligence.

The report quoted Abdullah abu Khama, an Egyptian council member
representing the northern Sinai district as saying that the Egyptian
party is making last ditch efforts to increase the number of
prisoners included in the deal. He also noted that the negotiations
to release Tarabin are serious, but have yet to yield final results.
On Friday, al Ahram´s website reported that Israel´s Ambassador to
Egypt Yaacov Amitai delayed his trip to back Israel by one day in
order to complete a round of negotiations relating to the deal. The
report could not be verified.